The Shadowhunter Chronicles aren’t touted as particularly brutal fantasy books, but The Mortal Instruments deserves more credit for being bold enough to kill one character in City of Glass. Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter books feature plenty of humor and hopeful themes, but they aren’t devoid of darker moments — and they excel when it comes to character deaths. With Clare focusing so heavily on the characters and relationships in her Shadowhunter stories, it’s no surprise that such losses have a massive emotional impact.
The majority of deaths in the Shadowhunter Chronicles pack a powerful punch, but The Mortal Instruments delivers the most tragic of them. The unexpected nature of City of Glass’ big loss — combined with the fact that Clare goes where many authors wouldn’t — makes this death a powerful one. It also sets the stakes for the rest of Clare’s Shadowhunter book series, which do take City of Glass’ lead to a certain extent. But none of them reach the level of ruthlessness The Mortal Instruments achieves, and it’s surprising the series’ most devastating moment isn’t talked about more.
The Mortal Instruments has quite a few tearjerker moments, but Max Lightwood’s death in City of Glass is as shocking as it is heartbreaking. With Clare’s Shadowhunter saga still being in the early stages when City of Glass came out, very few readers were expecting her to kill off an innocent character — much less a young child who wasn’t actually involved in the fighting. Many young adult fantasy series even hesitate to kill off older characters. Needless to say, Clare having Sebastian Morgenstern murder a nine-year-old in City of Glass bucked expectations.
What makes Max’s death even sadder is that the youngest Lightwood is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Max isn’t involved in the battle that unfolds when demons attack Idris; in fact, the adults ensure that he’s out of harm’s way at the Penhallows’ house when the war begins. However, The Mortal Instruments’ villain Sebastian takes his life, worrying that Max might have seen too much. To avoid Max piecing together the truth about him — that he has demon blood — Sebastian eliminates him. He tries to do the same to Izzy, but she survives the attack while Max doesn’t.
Series like Game of Thrones have reputations for killing characters without holding back, but The Mortal Instruments doesn’t get much acknowledgment for making such a bold choice. Max’s death is both uncomfortable and unexpected, and it sets the stakes for the later Mortal Instruments books. While it’s difficult to read or reflect on the youngest Lightwood’s fate, there’s no denying that Clare accomplishes what she set out to do with Max’s death. His final moments establish that no one is safe in the Shadowhunter world — even a young and completely innocent civilian.
City of Glass’ tragedy also underscores how dangerous Sebastian is, as he doesn’t think twice about taking the life of a young kid. Sebastian’s merciless approach to pursuing his goals continues into the back half of The Mortal Instruments, and it’s set up perfectly at the series’ halfway point. Max’s death is a defining moment in The Mortal Instruments, and its influence extends beyond that. Clare continues to deliver gut-wrenching losses in almost every Shadowhunter series after. It’s become something of a tradition after City of Glass.
Max is arguably the saddest Shadowhunter Chronicles death — closely rivaled by the loss in Lord of Shadows — but his is far from the only shocking and brutal demise in the saga. Clare continues the trend of suddenly killing unexpected characters in her other series, with Livvy’s death in The Dark Artifices probably receiving the largest response from the Shadowhunter fan base. Livvy is another younger character who isn’t supposed to be fighting yet, and she also perishes because she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. Livvy’s death hits incredibly hard, and that’s precisely because it’s so memorable.
Jessamine’s death in The Infernal Devices also shares similarities with Max’s, as does Christopher Lightwood’s in The Last Hours. Clare repeatedly tugs at readers heartstrings with these sorts of losses, and with the Shadowhunter Chronicles still not finished, it’s likely she’ll feature another in The Wicked Powers. It’s no longer as surprising as it was in The Mortal Instruments, but it’s a trend that works to make the Shadowhunter books powerful stories.